EPILOGUE

Author's Note: I'm sorry for being many months late in posting the epilogue. First few chapters of sequel will be posted up soon.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALISON!” Everyone screamed as they clapped and cheered.

“Thank-you,” Alison whispered shyly.

She beamed at all the friends (and some strangers) who turned up for her birthday party which was jointly organized by Carrie and her. It was officially 18th December and her first birthday spent in America. Back in Japan, it was generally a quiet affair because their family didn’t know a lot of people so the celebration was restricted to a small dinner with a few of her favorite dishes at a local restaurant. But this year, Angela came up with the idea to set up a birthday bash for her and everyone (including her parents) collaborated and chipped in. Many of the juniors and seniors were invited even if they didn’t know her personally.

Speaking of Carrie, where was she? She casted a frantic glance around the room as a lot of people start to dissipate into little groups. Many people were hovering near the refreshments counter and a few came to give her well wishes but she felt vulnerable being alone.

“Hey, love.” Edward strode up confidently and kissed her hair. “How are things?”

“Lovely,” she smiled. “Any hot girls tried to pick you up?”

“One,” he laughed. “I was too busy trying to fend off her amorous advances.”

“Both Angela and Carrie went a little…extreme.”

He gazed around the room disbelievingly. They had rented a big space (because Alison’s apartment was too small) and had decorated it with many balloons, hand-made pompoms and countless sparkly fairy lights. In the middle of the room was the half-finished birthday cake which was designed in the shape of an American flag.

“Alison!” Carrie exclaimed excitedly as she came up behind her at this point. “Hey, I didn’t see you there, Mr. Kingston, enjoying yourself?”

“It’s Edward,” Alison pouted. Her sister still hadn’t kicked the habit of addressing his boyfriend as “Mr Kingston”. It made her feel as if she was dating a much older guy.

“Sorry,” Carrie apologized before asking cheerily, “Will I be addressing him as brother-in-law next then?”

“Maybe,” Alison answered lightly, ignoring the surreptitious glances Edward was throwing her way.

“How’s the first term at Stanford anyway?” Carrie turned to Edward.

“Brilliant. I love the courses there,” he answered conversationally with his arms still wrapped around Alison. “Of course, I stole back to attend my girlfriend’s birthday party. That can’t be counted as illegal.” He exchanged a knowing glance with Alison who giggled at his facial expression.

“Where’s Alex anyway?” Alison asked as she twisted her head to look around.

“He’s stuffing his mouth full of chocolate cake.” Carrie put on a face. “Sometimes, I wonder how Angela can stand him.”

“She’s his girlfriend after all so she has to bear with him.” Alison poked her in the arms and Carrie snorted.

It took a little getting used to after Alex announced he was going out with Angela. Alison wasn’t surprised of course. She had long suspected Angela harbored more than just platonic feelings for her other best friend but she hadn’t expected Alex to take the first step to court her. Angela was delighted of course but it was a little awkward at the start. All three of them initially had difficulty arranging time for their friends and romantic interests with a few tiffs along the way but they ended up making a pact to spend at least four hours each week with their buddies only.

Sometimes, Alison would have to admit that being with two friends who dated each other had its cons. She would stumble upon them kissing and undergoing some under-the-clothes action but thankfully, nothing more than that. As for Carrie, she declared that she had gotten over the short-lived crush on Alex and there were no more hard feelings between them even if…they had did it before.

“By the way, did you hear about the good news?”

“What?”

“I topped the entire junior cohort!”

“No way,” Alison gapsed. “Really?”

“Yes! Principal Audrey was really pleased about it. She says that it’s a fine turning around-” Carrie lowered her voice. “-especially after the incident.

“What’s her problem?” Alison frowned. “Why does she keep reminding everyone of that? All of us just want to move on with our lives.”

“Totally,” Edward echoed dutifully, squeezing her arms. She wondered if he was even paying attention to the conversation.

As Carrie bounced off to chat with some of her mates, Alison couldn’t help but feel relieved that the ordeal was finally over. Thankfully, Carrie wasn’t charged for both offences (street walking and drug possession) although she was forced to go for counseling because the judge deemed her as a minor and worthy of a second chance. After a few regular sessions with a professional counselor, she managed to change her mindset and become more positive in her thinking and attitude before throwing herself feverishly back into school.

Under Principal Audrey’s encouragement, Carrie also signed up for a few co-curricular activities. She swore off smoking, drugs, dyeing of hair, ditching of classes and tattoos (although the one of her forearm still remained). Both her parents were extremely happy after Carrie reverted back to her original self.

On the other hand, the rest of the Mean Girls’ Gang’s cronies ended up in a worse state. Jessica’s parents were both charged for smuggling of drugs and her father was put behind the jail bars for seven years while her mother was let off for a lighter sentence of three years.

As for Jessica, she checked into a girls’ rehab and she was currently still residing there. Jessica’s entire family’s vast assets were liquidated and sold off, leaving her with only a meager amount of inheritance. Alison almost pitied Jessica for coming to such a sad end. Both Robert Benson and Josh Brown (Angela’s on and off ex-boyfriend) went to a boys’ home but rumor has it that Robert’s dad bribed someone to let his son go off on probation.

As for Jane Kingston, Alison had only seen her once ever since that incident and that was when she came back to collect her belongings. She didn’t end up being sentenced to a girls’ home because she had spun some elaborate tale to the judge about her being cheated and duped by Jessica.

Instead, after being let off, she chose to move out of her parents’ home and accepted an offer to be an intern at some fancy office in New York after dropping out of Cornwall Institution. Edward once mentioned that her parents’ hadn’t received a single letter or e-mail from her and her father had almost given up hope of ever seeing his daughter again while his mother was adamant about Jane being “too busy to communicate”.

The single biggest thing which happened in Cornwall Institution’s history thus far was the dissolving of the Mean Girls’ Gang and the Bad Boys’ Gang. After the police interrogated the school committee and found out that Jessica’s father had been donating a lot of money (or by saying it in a uglier fashion, bribing) the executive committee to pay a blind eye to everything and there was a big hoo-ha about it, many of the students wrote a petition and Principal Audrey finally outlawed them, destroying the so-called “special” cult status. It was sheer victory for many people, geeks especially, and a huge shock for many of the cheerleaders and jocks.

“By the way, where are your parents?” Edward murmured by her ear, tucking her brown hair behind her ear with one swift movement as Angela disappeared to talk to an old friend.

“They’re out spending some quality time together,” Alison chuckled. It was her idea that her parents start “re-dating” and get to appreciate each other more so that they can enjoy being alone with each other without any disturbances. Initially, they started out their dates simply by going to restaurants or bars.

Only recently did they proceed to doing more intense activities together like figure-skating. Alison almost laughed out loud as she imagined her father, a rather proud man, wobbling around the skating rink and hanging on to his dear life with her exasperated mother watching her husband, wondering why on earth she married him. Her parents were much happier now and she caught her father smiling twice so far. Alison decided to work harder to chalk up a higher record.

“I’m totally getting jealous now,” Edward mumbled, leading her to a private corner.

“Why?” Alison asked quizzically.

“I want to us to be like your parents when we’re forty,” he grinned.

“Sure, we’ll wait for our kids to plan all these activities for us then,” she smirked.

“Make sure you don’t become some wrinkled old lady by then.”

“Well, you’d better not turn into some foul-smelling old man,” Alison retorted.

“Hmm, I just realized I never got to asking you about whether you accepted the scholarship.” He deftly wrapped his strong arms around her.

“I’m sure you know the answer,” she teased, trying to ignore the fact that he had slipped his hand under her shirt. She had rejected the offer even after strenuous letters sent to her by her Japanese ex-principal.

She  decided to remain in America and maybe continue on to an American college in the future (her father was exceptionally delighted) so that she could be near her friends, family and boyfriend. There was nothing left in Japan for her except for memories and it was simply pointless to return back there. Maybe someday, she would make a trip and tour around Japan but she knew that in the eyes of the Japanese, she would be the foreigner or the tourist. It used to bother her but it didn’t matter now because she knew she had found her place in America, her homeland.

“By the way, I haven’t given you a present here.” Edward flashed a smile at her.

“I pretended not to notice.”

“Here,” Edward gingerly took out a silver locket from his pockets. The words “E & A” were carved on it in neat cursive handwriting. It was really stunning.

“Where did you get that?” Alison gawked at the pretty trinket.

“It belonged to my birth mother,” he replied quietly. “This is the only memory I’ve of her.”

“And you’re giving it to me?” she asked disbelievingly. “Shouldn’t you keep it for yourself?”

“No, I want you to have it.” Edward carefully clasped the locket around Alison’s neck and he sighed. “I love how it looks on you.”

“Thank-you,” she whispered. This was one of their special moments whereby nobody could disturb them unlike the other time when Alex accidentally-on-purpose stumbled into their room during an intense make-out session.

“I love you, Alison, I really do.” He kissed her full on the lips, silencing her words and clasped his hands over hers. They were tangled together into one and Alison enjoyed the feeling of being touched by him immensely because his skin had a smooth, satin-like texture.

“I love you too, Edward.” Alison smiled. 

THE END